Apple received a subpoena from the DOJ forcing it to give 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses
Apple received a subpoena for information from the Department of Justice
Apple said that it had no idea what the investigation was about and supplied the Justice Department with only basic information such as “account subscriber information” including names, addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers, connection logs, and IP addresses. Apple noted that it did not give the DOJ any data revealing who might have sent messages and when they were sent.
Clarifying a little more, Apple said that the subpoena (which included a gag order from a federal judge) “provided no information on the nature of the investigation and it would have been virtually impossible for Apple to understand the intent of the desired information without digging through users’ accounts.”
The Inspector General added that his review will “examine the Department’s compliance with applicable DOJ policies and procedures, and whether any such uses, or the investigations, were based upon improper considerations.” A White House official called the Trump administration’s actions “appalling.”
Apple will only give out no more than 25 identifiers with future requests for information
Apple has placed limits on future requests for information to 25 identifiers for each legal request. Apple was not allowed to tell its customers about the subpoenas due to non-disclosure agreements which were extended three times, each one for a year. Once the NDAs expired on May 5th of this year, Apple was able to inform impacted customers about the investigations and the subpoenas.
Two Democrats on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee who were included in the DOJ’s request for information from Apple included committee chair Adam Schiff and committee member Eric Swalwell. The former made a statement last week and said, “President Trump repeatedly and flagrantly demanded that the Department of Justice carry out his political will, and tried to use the Department as a cudgel against his political opponents and members of the media.”
Swalwell confirmed on MSNBC that his Apple data was seized by the Trump administration. One of the Democrats who threw his hat in the ring and ran for president last year, Swalwell is concerned that if Trump runs again in 2024 and wins back the presidency, he “may just skip the Department of Justice and its processes and just order his lieutenants to lock up his political opponents.”
